Comfortable Maternity Traveling.

I had a nice long day of traveling and I was so thankful I took extra precautions to make sure I was comfortable in the process. My last trip to Minnesota in May taught me so much about ensuring you’re comfortable when at an airport or on a plane for a good portion of the day (I was in the early stages of pregnancy then – 6 weeks ish so I was miserable). Therefore, I present: MY TOP TIPS FOR TRAVELING WHILE PREGNANT!

• Wear comfortable shoes. This is a given any time you’re traveling but I know I normally opt for a sandal of some sort that I can just slip on easy after going through security. Not this time! I didn’t mind the extra minute it took me to lace my shoes back up, it was worth it when I realized how big the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is and how far my gate was from where I needed to be.

• Stay hydrated but don’t drink too much. You may want to rethink that complimentary beverage in flight. Nothing is more annoying than having to get up mid flight to use the way less than stellar “restrooms” <-if those even count.
• Pack a light carry on. Yes, this includes those that have wheels. If you’re navigating through an extremely large airport, even pulling something too heavy gets tiring.  My carry on consisted of a snuggie and a computer only.
• Don’t fly hungry. I don’t know about y’all, but if I get too hungry now I get angry and I feel horrible. (I’m pretty sure the angry part is all the time though.) Philip and I had lunch around 11:30 and my flight was at 2:30, this gave me plenty of time to not feel overly stuffed but it also wasn’t too much time so that I was hungry again in flight.
• Bring a blanket or jacket. I know they have blankets you can ask for but those always smell funny to me and Lord knows I get crazy hot or crazy cold in a instant these days.

Memphis Snuggie ;)

I feel like all of these are things that you should do/expect on a normal flight but I know I didn’t do any of these before. I promise they’re so helpful when pregnant!

Now that I’ve finally made it to Minnesota and have food in me, I’m relaxing in the hotel trying to avoid all the work I brought with me to do. I’m trying to stay really positive about the entire trip even though I really didn’t want to come and then when I got here, the hotel informed us we’re on the third floor and there are no elevators. How a hotel can function without an elevator with three floors is beyond me! I’m pretty sure my doctor would advise against carry a 28lb bag up three flights of stairs!!

Maternity Shopping Tips

I head out early this morning to finally buy some maternity clothes. Since I went out early, there weren’t very many people around and I took my sweet time trying on a ton of clothes. With that being said, here are the “tips” that helped me along the way.

Sneak peak of some of today’s finds.  

• Don’t shop at stores that specialize in maternity. We’re talking stores like A Pea in the Pod, Destination Maternity, etc. Everything there will be so ridiculously expensive and you’ll end up spending a ton on clothes that you won’t wear very long. I went to stores like Kohl’s, Gordman’s, and Target.
• Shop the sales. I racked up at Gordman’s today by only shopping the sales racks.
• Find pieces you can wear throughout your entire pregnancy. I found several cute short dresses today but I knew I couldn’t wear those towards the end of my pregnancy in December so I put them back. One of the shirts I bought is a tank top but I knew I could wear it under a cardigan in the colder months.
• If you aren’t completely comfortable, don’t buy it. I tired on a shirt that I loved but I didn’t feel 100% comfortable in it. Since I loved it, I debated it for a while then ultimately decided, if I don’t love how I look or feel in it now I won’t love it later either.
• Utilize what you already have. I went through my closet pretty early on and pulled out pieces I had that could work over a bump. This included tunic’s, leggings, and maxi dresses/skirts.

I know a lot of people say “don’t buy maternity, just buy clothes 1 size bigger than you are” and I understand the concept of this but I don’t agree 100%. The maternity clothes I bought don’t look like maternity clothes so you bet I’ll be wearing them even when I’m not pregnant and they’re my size. If I would have just went up a size, I wouldn’t be able to wear anything afterwards which would have been wasteful to me.